PETER JENNINGS Biography - People in the News and Media

 
 

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PETER JENNINGS

Name: Peter Jennings                                                                   
Born: 29 July 1938 Toronto, Ontario, Canada                                           
Died: 7 August 2005 New York City                                                     
                                                                                       
Peter Charles Archibald Ewart Jennings (July 29, 1938 - August 7, 2005) was           
a Canadian-American journalist and news anchor. He was the sole anchor of ABC's       
World News Tonight from 1983 until his death in 2005 of complications from lung       
cancer. A high-school dropout, he transformed himself into one of television's         
most prominent journalists.                                                           
                                                                                       
Jennings started his career early, hosting a Canadian radio show at the age of         
nine. In 1965, ABC News tapped him to anchor its flagship evening news program.       
His inexperience marred his first short stint in the anchor chair, and Jennings       
became a foreign correspondent in 1968, honing his reporting skills in the             
Middle East.                                                                           
                                                                                       
He returned as one of World News Tonight's three anchors in 1978, and was             
promoted to the role of sole anchor in 1983. Jennings formed part of the "Big         
Three" news anchors who dominated American evening news in the 1980s and 1990s.       
Having always been fascinated with the United States, Jennings became a dual           
citizen of Canada and the United States in 2003. His death, which closely             
followed the retirements of Tom Brokaw and Dan Rather, marked the end of the "Big     
Three" era.